Freedom Swim means fun, exercise and patriotism

Here's a fun Fourth of July tradition. Hundreds of people swam, floated or kayaked across the Peace River in Charlotte County for the annual Freedom Swim.

"We take our time, we don't stress out," said Amy Schimmel.

Shimmel took one last look at her kayak. This was her third year participating in the Freedom Swim with her mom.

"I just love the atmosphere and the excitement of the fourth of July," said Wanda Reed of Arcadia.

They made the one-and-a-half-mile trek in a kayak. Hundreds more swam or crossed the river in their own unique way.

"I'm 69, gonna be 70 soon so I think I better stick to the kayak. If I was younger I'd try it," Reed said.

"We wanted to do something different, something fun instead of barbecues and this and that. This is the Freedom Swim. We're going to swim across this bay of water," said first-time swimmers Scott Weinberg and Abizer Ghadilai.

These friends from law school joined the fun and swam across the river for the first time.

Recent heavy rains caused the Peace River to nearly crest in arcadia, but officials say the water levels are safe.

"It's not very often you get a couple hundred people in one place jumping in the water," said Eric Wilson from Punta Gorda.

Wilson is capturing the event on his sketchpad. He's painted the scene before and looks forward to it every year.

"Probably as much fun as swimming across the river. It's hard to do both," he said.

People didn't get lost in the fun, they were sure to remember the reason they were celebrating.

"Just seeing all the red, white and blue and the atmosphere, everyone's happy. We're one on this day, everyone is just one. We're all Americans," Reed said.

2018-02-21T01:47:33Z2018-02-21T01:47:33ZDays after the deadly school shooting in Florida, a man named Aaron chose to write to NBC affiliate KUSA, and share his personal story about how he was almost a school shooter.

2018-02-21T03:18:50Z2018-02-21T03:18:49ZMajor League Baseball announced on Tuesday that all 30 teams will wear Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School baseball caps before their Spring Training games this weekend.